January 13, 2022

Unfulfilled promises undermine Bosnian labour rights

topic:	Economic Fairness
located:	Bosnia and Herzegovina
editor:	Katarina Panić

Post-communist societies often struggle between a wide range of inherited social rights for public sector workers and a lack of public funds that could guarantee these rights. The laws that regulate labour are usually amended during election years as a tool to attract voters: the state negotiates with unions and sometimes concedes much more than it is capable of paying for. The short-term goal is to keep a hold on power; in the long term, however, it produces problems which will only be thought about and dealt with once they come to the surface. 

In reality, this gap between what is promised and what is given is sometimes maintained when employers use various methods to persuade workers not to ask for what is due to them. On the other hand, some favoured employees receive everything they are guaranteed without fighting for it. This practice makes for a painful experience among workers who feel unprivileged - and it often becomes a motive to continue fighting.

For example, recently, a group of firefighters in the Bosnian town of Prijedor has been trying for five years to receive their jubilee prizes. The regulation states that after two decades of employment with an organisation, a worker should receive one additional average salary as a bonus: in the case of the firefighters, it is about €540 each.

The city administration - which regularly pays for its direct employees - has refused to pay them, always finding an excuse. The firefighters tried every single recourse, step by step, within several competent subjects, and were nevertheless rejected every time. Then they took the case to court - and won, defeating the vast bureaucratic system. The city budget paid them their prizes, including the costs of the trial, which amounted to more than 50 percent of the awards.

"All this time during our institutional struggle, communication with local unions has been going on simultaneously, where we did not have support, but on the contrary, we were discouraged,” one of the firefighters told FairPlanet. “And instead of getting protection from the union, we were constantly told that we had no chance, that it was better for us not to try anything, that we had no basis, that we would lose. And then there was a revolt, and with that same determination, a readiness to go to the end - even if we would lose." 

Angry about their loss in the court, the bureaucratic system tried to play on the workers' consciences. 

"The jubilee award is for fidelity, not just a right to be exercised at all costs. Even just by resorting to a lawsuit, the meaning of the reward is lost," the city administration wrote in response to the court’s decision.

Photo by Tingey Injury Law Firm 

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